The present invention relates to humidifier wicks, and more particularly, to a dry compressed and wet expandable humidifier wick.
Humidifier wicks are currently constructed from pleated or webbed fibrous material, i.e., a paper-like material, which draws water by capillary attraction into the wick from a water reservoir in a humidifier. When wet, the wick enables moisturized air to be drawn through the wick by a motor driven fan blade in order to discharge the moisturized or humidified air from the humidifier into the atmosphere of a room containing the humidifier. Examples of such fibrous humidifier wicks are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,822,533; 5,034,162 and 5,110,511.
While the aforementioned fibrous humidifier wicks have readily proven to be a suitable absorbent capillary wicking material, they must be packaged in protective cartons due to their considerable size and also to avoid the possibility of damage since such fibrous material constructed wicks are relatively fragile. As will be appreciated, the protective cartons containing such fibrous material wicks require considerable shipping space as well as retail outlet shelf space.
The present invention relates to a humidifier wick that is made from a material, i.e. cellulose foam material, that can be compressed to a predetermined thickness when in a dry condition, but is capable of expanding to a substantially increased thickness when wet. While a material of this type is known per se, having been used in products such as sponges and the like, they have not been usefully constructed for use as a humidifier wick. In the discussion that follows, it will be seen that the humidifier wick of the present invention provides many advantages not currently available with fibrous material wicks, including reducing the shipping volume and shelf storage space, while also providing an improved and economical process for the manufacturer of such improved humidifier wicks.